The Giant Sorcerer or, The Extraordinary Adventures of Raphael and Cassandra: by William Whitman 3rd with pictures by Frank Boyd is this week’s staff pick. Part of James H. and Virginia Schlobin Literature of the Fantastic Collection, this book was written for younger audience, perhaps upper grammar school age children.

Looking at it now is a fascinating glimpse into science and technology were presented as “magic”. The title character is in fact an autonomous robot, or perhaps what we might now call an Artificial Intelligence. This story was long before Asimov’s “Laws of Robotics”, or any other variations on the rules for benign relationships between humans and “mechanical citizens”.

The images selected are the front cover, for the strong Art Deco elements of the design, and the title page, which indicates that this particular item has made its’ way here from a beginning in a public library Indiana. There are many other items in the Schlobin Fantasy Collection that offer equally fascinating glimpses of how science and technology were seen in past decades.

Description:
This book is from the Schlobin Collection on Science Fiction and Fantasy which is one of the book collections we have here in Special Collections. This collection was established in 2004 by Professor Roger Schlobin to honor his parents, James and Virginia Schlobin. I chose this particular book from the collection because I am a fan of Star Wars and both Han Solo and Chewbacca happen to be my favorite Star Wars characters. The story starts with Han Solo and Chewbacca getting a job for 10,000 credits to pick up some cargo. Han soon discovers that the cargo happens to be slaves thus both he and Chewbacca turn the tables on the slavers and free the slaves. Since Han and Chewbacca were still owed the 10,000, Han goes to meet the slaver at the rendezvous point. It is found that the slaver is a girl named Fiolla who is an officer of the Sector Authority and who was posing as a slaver for a secret mission on the planet Ammuud. In order to get the 10,000, Han and Chewbacca then travel to the planet Ammuud with Fiolla with the rest of the story being about how Han and Chewbacca help Fiolla complete her mission.

Although it has been years since I last read the book, I remembered it to be a great read so I hope people can find the time to come and read it as well the other wonderful books that we have in this collection.